Delhi government announces free internet services project

Delhi government had also decided to provide fibre-to-home services, aimed at offering high-speed and quality internet services to people living in the capital.

ET Bureau

June 25, 2016, 10:34 IST

NEW DELHI: East Delhi residents will be the first in the national capital to get free Wi-Fi services, as the Delhi government announced internet to home services, one that Aam Aadmi Party had promised for the city when it came to power over a year ago.

Delhi government had also decided to provide fibre-to-home services, aimed at offering high-speed and quality internet services to people living in the capital.

“Fibre optic network in the whole of Delhi up to your home. This is a big decision by Delhi government. Congrats Delhi,” Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal tweeted.

By the end of the year, 571 locations across East Delhi will be made high-speed wi-fi zones where 1,000 hot spots will be set up. The Wi-Fi project set to be the largest such project in the world, said Dialogue and Development Commission vice-chairman, Ashish Khetan.

The Wi-Fi service will cater to around 1,20,000 people at any given moment, where each hotspot zone will have three access points and will cater to around 120 people at a time. Around 3,000 access points will be added to improve the network, if needed.

People will get access to limited amount of free internet on a daily basis at these hotspots. The limit of usage will be consistent with the average daily usage of an individual as defined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

As per a TRAI report, on the basis of average consumption of internet, daily free limit per user shall be decided to satisfy the basic needs.

The tender will have details of free data usage limit, a request for proposal will be floated soon.

A three?-day Stakeholder Consultation Meeting was organized by DIT in April this year to ensure active involvement of various stakeholders from industry, society, technical community and various departments and agencies of the government. The expert panel deliberated upon issues like free Wi-Fi definition, business model, advertising and criteria for hotspot zones, to name a few.By Niharika Banerjee